Panel delays decision in Black Creek Mountain

A Chattanooga panel today left unsettled a decision over whether to appeal a judge's ruling related to the Black Creek Mountain development and tax incremental financing the project received.

The city's Industrial Development Board heard comments for and against appealing the Hamilton County judge's order, which had voided an earlier decision by the panel to allow taxpayer funding for the development.

The board met in a closed-door session with its attorneys for about 30 minutes for returning.

James Miller, the panel's vice chairman, said plans are to meet again in an open meeting in a couple of weeks, where it's expected to render a decision.

Helen Burns Sharp, who represented a group of other citizens at the meeting and who had sued over the financing, said the deal needs to go back to the city and Hamilton County for more discussion.

"The problem with the project is that everyone assumed someone had asked the right questions," she said.

But developer Doug Stein, a partner in the project, said work is underway and continuing.

"We want to comply with the law in every way," he said.

Chancellor Frank Brown last month said there was something "fundamentally wrong" with the way the IDB handled a 2013 decision to award $9 million in tax increment financing to developers of a golf course community.

The money was used to build a road up Aetna Mountain for the project.

See more in Friday's Times Free Press.

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